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Salvage Sailor
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Salvage Sailor

Should you wish to wile away a few hours

 

Sole Survivor - full movie on youtube (B-25 Mitchell)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqxZoVLn6Tg

 

and.....

 

The War Lover - full movie on youtube (B-17 Flying Fortress)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-V6SztfsXU

 

 

sole survivor.jpg

the war lover 02.jpg

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Sole survivor haunts me to this day. It is a paranormal story loosely based on the Lady Be Good story where the crew is recovered one by one, their spirits finally brought to rest.

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Thanks for this super Labor Day link! Two great WWII air war related flicks. What's very impressive to me are the technical aspects of both. In Sole Survivor it's hard to find a fault in the gear and the wrecked B-25 used (in place of the "Lady Be Good" B-24) is real!) Gripping drama!

 

"The War Lover" released in 1962 is also 99% bang-on in the tech department. One exception are the Life Vests they used. Totally wrong! How they couldn't find 10 B-4 Mae Wests in 1962 is very puzzling???? Takes place in 1943 so the A-11 flying helmets are a bit premature. Uniforms are great. The over ambiance of a WWII 8th AF flying field is well done.

 

After all, they resurrected three B-17s from derelict status and flew them to England where they filmed the movie. Aviation author Martin Caidin wrote a book about the aircraft re-builds and the flight. Called "Everything But The Flak", I highly recommend it if you like that sort of stuff! Great performances by Steve McQueen (Buz Rickson) and Robert Wagner. And......I still love Sally Ann Field to this day! Bobgee

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Funny thing about "Everything But the Flak"... the three B-17's came from Israel. I always wondered if they had left others behind and thought it a shame if they had.

 

From what I have read lately, it appears that the Israeli Air Force only had three of them to begin with! I imagine their air museum wishes they'd kept one of them by now.

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In the War Lover, they actually flew one of the B-17's into the cliffs of Dover for a spectacular crash that was the end of Capt. Rickson. I used to have a lengthy newspaper article about the making of the movie. One of Steve McQueen's best rolls in my opinion and one of my favorite war movies.

I also liked "Sole Survivor". I remember the finding of the Lady Be Good a few years before and the tie-in with this movie. Another good flick.

I'd like to find examples of those two movie posters!

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